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ANGER MANAGEMENT SPECIALISTS
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Feeling hot in the face and neck
Trembling or shaking
Clenched fists
Increased rate of speech
Increased voice volume
A clenched jaw
Grinding the teeth
Intense eye contact
A furrowed brow
Flush or reddened skin on the face
A person who is angry can have difficulty concentrating and might pace around, feeling the need to walk. Anger triggers the body’s flight or fight response, as the adrenal glands release a surge of stress hormones into the bloodstream, including cortisol and adrenaline.
BECOMING AWARE OF YOUR TRIGGERS
Anger is a response to unwanted occurrences or triggers. An occurrence (which some people call a “trigger”) could be the actions of another person, such as an employer embarrassing you in front of co-workers. Alternatively, a trigger could be a circumstance beyond any person’s control. Oftentimes, anger energizes a person to want to retaliate when feeling negatively about that circumstance. Example: You were looking forward to going out on a date and they canceled last minute. This trigger made you throw your phone on the floor and broke it.
What Happens to Health When Anger occurs too often?
When a person becomes angry, the autonomic nervous system kicks into high gear. The sympathetic nervous system can also become aroused, which triggers neurochemical and hormonal changes in the body.
These reactions can lead to increased perspiration and respiration, an increase in blood flow to muscles, and an increase in cardiovascular responding and strength. Systems of the body affected by anger include the cardiovascular, digestive, immune, and central nervous systems.
There are many long-term physical repercussions of anger, which include an increased risk of:
Heart disease
Gastric ulcers
Stroke
Bowel diseases
Slower healing of wounds
Possible increased risk of cancer
WARNING SIGNS OF ANGER AND TRIGGERS
Anger is a negative state during which people have hostile thoughts and display maladaptive behaviors. They often also experience physiological changes, some of which are visible and some of which are not.
When a person tends to frequently become angry, it’s known as high trait anger. Those who have a high trait of anger more than double their chances of suffering from various coronary events, even if they typically have normal blood pressure.
Some people become so used to the feeling of anger and the physical changes that come with it that they no longer notice any warning signs.
The previously mentioned signs of anger are internal changes. Other internal warning signs of anger can include feeling dizzy, a tight feeling in the chest, and a churning feeling in the stomach or a pounding headache.
There are many physical changes that can happen when a person is angry, too. Everyone feels anger differently, and
people can be prone to experiencing some physical signs of anger more than others. However, some of the most
common physical signs of anger include: